media 2070

Our nation’s defacto media-apartheid system goes back to the distribution of the earliest radio and television broadcasting licenses to whites, only starting in the late 1920s. As of 2019, Black people owned just 18 full-power TV stations —  just 1 percent of the overall total —  and 239 of the country’s 11,000 commercial radio stations as of 2017. 

After news broke of telecommunications giant AT&T’s alleged role in creating and sustaining the right-wing disinformation network One America News (OAN), calls for accountability has been swift. Released earlier this week, a special report from Reuters documented the allegations that AT&T not only encouraged the creation of another conservative news network but is its primary source of revenue.  

The thread struck a chord with many Black journalists co-signing its contents. But what's even more astonishing is the response to Overbey saying much of what Black journalists have been saying for years.